PcPro podcast had it as hot hardware of the week, the guy who tests and uses fitness trackers loved it. The others weren't convinced though.

The podcast was about 4/5 weeks ago I think

20th Jul 2015

I have used lots of garmins and bought this and think it is brilliant for my needs. Finds gps really quickly. Would highly recommend

20th Jul 2015

hankering after the Fenix 3 as more suited to my fitness need and looks more like a watch however very expensive, but will prob wait for the Fenix 4

20th Jul 2015

Been waiting for this to drop in price, great deal! Thanks op!!

20th Jul 2015

This is a super price

Should go red hot.

20th Jul 2015

can this be worn in a swimming pool

20th Jul 2015

petersalvin

can this be worn in a swimming pool

Yes. One of the icons on the image of the watch says "Swim". But the image does show someone with their arm out of the water.So maybe you need to swim with your arm up.

20th Jul 2015

I'd been teetering on ordering this when it hit £151 last week. Glad I held on.

20th Jul 2015

Bought a few weeks ago at £166, I've previously has the Microsoft Band and the Fitbit Surge.The Microsoft Band had everything I wanted but suffered on form factor the band itself is very rigid and the battery life was not great (charge needed most nights or every other day), so moved onto the Fitbit Surge which was great so much more comfortable but suffered massively with in-accurate heart rate readings in most forms of exercise.I mainly cycle and tried the Fitbit further up my arm, twisted to avoid tendons and always the same either poor readings or out by anything up to 15bpm when compared to the chest strap.

I finally settled on the fact optical heart rate is not there and for me not accurate enough, I know use the Vivoactive paired to my chest strap for workouts and also speed and cadence sensor for cycling. Swimming its great you tell it the pool size it then gives stats on strokes, length, SWOLF score etc.The Smartwatch features to me aren't used its mainly for fitness and activity but they do work, And the watch itself feel so much lighter and comfortable.

I've owned one for 3 months. Waterproof. Two week battery life when using GPS 4 times. Receive the text and email, weather, calendar appointments from phone.change music from wrist to phone. Use for cycling, running and swimming. Improved app from Garmin to android is great. This is a great device. Good sleep and steps tracking. It's motivating to take exercise. Buy one

20th Jul 2015

I've had this for a while and it's a really good device. Really fast GPS pickup, notifications from the phone are reliable and the battery life is superb. Well worth it for the money.

It can be used for indoor lap swimming, but it doesn't have the ability to do outdoor swimming using GPS like some of the more expensive models. That may change though with software tweaks.

this thing really cope with swimming a few times a week doing decent distances?

20th Jul 2015

Just brought this thanks for the find! Could someone let me know which is a good heart rate monitor to go with it please?

20th Jul 2015

I have one of these, and it's fantastic. The battery life is amazing, I charge it around once a fortnight, even after using GPS a couple of times in that time. It picks up GPS satellites quickly, and connects to my bike's speed/cadence sensor immediately. I've had a few smartwatches now and usually have to press a button to wake it up in order to see the time so as to save battery - not so with this, the display is constant (there's a backlight button if needed in dark) and yet still the battery life is brilliant. There only 2 negatives, both minor: 1) it occassionally (not often) loses connection with my phone, then the battery gets swallowed as it tries hard to reconnect, fixed by rebooting both watch and phone; 2) It reminds you to 'move' every hour if you haven't moved much, which would be fine if I hadn't already been out and cycled 100 miles... I could get back from the ride, and start to relax and it'd vibrate to remind me to move! Should be able to switch that off, but you can't (yet, hopefully an update will fix both of these issues). Smartwatch features such as texts, calls, emails coming through work perfectly and are highly useful when cycling/running. It also has the functionality of a Garmin 500 bike GPS (except the navigation function), so if you have one of those you can feasibly sell that to get one of these (and a handlebar mount, £5) as long as you don't need navigation and only use the 500 for recording rides and displaying data as you are going along.

Swimming works by tracking movement - not GPS - so you don't need to have an arm sticking out of the water at all times as mentioned above! It'll count arm strokes per length of the pool and a swimming friend of mine assures me it's accurate.

I can't speak for the golf functionality but by all accounts it's very impressive.

I'd rate it 9/10 (10 if they fix those 2 issues) and I paid a lot more than this bargain price!

Edited by: "Vonobox" 20th Jul 2015

20th Jul 2015

Has anyone found the sensors anywhere at a cheap price?, they seem to be £35-£45 or more each

20th Jul 2015

can it be used independent of your phone with Bluetooth headset and does it have music storage?

20th Jul 2015

jsansom

Just brought this thanks for the find! Could someone let me know which is … Just brought this thanks for the find! Could someone let me know which is a good heart rate monitor to go with it please?

It IS a heart rate monitor, but needs a chest strap, which must be what you mean. It works with any ANT+ equipment, but you'd be best off using Garmin's own straps.

20th Jul 2015

Humm, I have not long had a TomTom Multisport after seeing it on offer here and now I want to get this instead...damn this site :P. Wonder what I could get for my TomTom.

20th Jul 2015

does this have HRM?

do I need to buy an external HRM? does it needs to be of garmin or any other HRM belt will work?

20th Jul 2015

Damodamodamo12

can it be used independent of your phone with Bluetooth headset and does … can it be used independent of your phone with Bluetooth headset and does it have music storage?

You don't need to have your phone with you to record rides, golf, swims, runs - they'll upload when it next has a connection - so you can go running and leave your phone behind. It does not have music storage, but you can control the music on your phone with it (Next/Previous track, Play/Pause etc)

20th Jul 2015

Cheers

20th Jul 2015

Vonobox

It IS a heart rate monitor, but needs a chest strap, which must be what … It IS a heart rate monitor, but needs a chest strap, which must be what you mean. It works with any ANT+ equipment, but you'd be best off using Garmin's own straps.

… http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Mio_Link_Heart_Rate_Wristband_Slate/?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=directory&utm_content=GBR¤cy=GBP&country=GBR&SelectedBundle=182093&gclid=CK6TgYLH6cYCFUzHtAodcRUKTQThis is cheaper than the hr strap !

Just make sure these aren't part of the first wave from when they were first released, metrics were all over the place..was reading 170bpm when I wasn't even pedaling furiously and 75bpm when I powering up S'hill. I got two replacements before finally giving up. I believe they sorted out the optical leds and the firmware algorithms in later iterations . If you do get this just be sure to get the blue Velo version or the yellow mio link band as these were definitely released after the initial teething probs with the original Mio link

20th Jul 2015

logohigh1

It doesn't have hr strap That's another 75 mortal quid !

You can pick up ant+ heart rate straps for much less than £75.

20th Jul 2015

SVRich

Humm, I have not long had a TomTom Multisport after seeing it on offer … Humm, I have not long had a TomTom Multisport after seeing it on offer here and now I want to get this instead...damn this site :P. Wonder what I could get for my TomTom.

£50 Here?!

20th Jul 2015

crucial_extreme

does this have HRM? do I need to buy an external HRM? does it needs to be … does this have HRM? do I need to buy an external HRM? does it needs to be of garmin or any other HRM belt will work?

Yes you do need an external HR strap but No doesn't specifically need to be a Garmin specific HRM strap as the ANT tech is licensed out. Thee more expensive Garmin Fenix uses closed ANT+ tech thus some metrics are only visible if the watch is used with their unique ~Garmin-run strap. Of course course ordinary Garmin Ant straps will work with the Fenix 3 but you wont be able to see every run metric ( such as ground contact time or bounce height or running economy. historically Paula Radcliffe's running economy is legendary). Anyway leaving the Fenix and moving back to the Vivosmart , suitable /compatible ANT+ straps are as cheap as £15 on the bay!!I own a few straps myself including*Garmin ANT+ strap from the Evans store clearance when their Flagship Waterloo store closed down sometime ago*Viiiiva ( dual mode ANT+/BluetoothSMart) heart rate straps - regularly updated over the air* Coospo H6 ( dual mode ANT+/BluetoothSMart)

You need to determine your HR zones to use the any HR strap properly. The old fashioned strategy is 220-(your age) to determine your max HR ( MHR) and then establish your fatburn ,aerobic & anaerobic zones from knowing you resting heart rate ( RHR) . This formula isn't very reliable. Instead I use the Karnoven calculation. Of course if you can afford it have you VO2 max determined under lab conditions, The Karnoven method is very accurate for my needs. Other calculations do exist thoughVictoria Brilz & Kip of Viiiiiva are legendary for developing ANT+ in the 80's via Dynastream before selling the tech on to Garmin , the rest is history.Anyway any ANT+ wiill work with the watch , In fact ANT+ will broadcast its signal to several devices ( headunits) so the HR metric would show simultaneously on *a watch ( this vivoactive watch ) , *an ANT cycle computer and*a phone ( ANT enabled phones like some Sonys and Samsungs)The dual rate straps broadcast a BT4 and ANT+ signal simultaneouslyI tend to broadcast my HR to both a phone and a bike computer. so if something happens to my live recording during particularly long bike rides I have a backup, excessively fastidious but that's how I roll.

The Coospo H6 is the cheapest dual rate ( ANT+/BT4) heart rate monitor you can get.

but for a really cheap straightforward ANT+ compatible strap that will work with this watch look here

20th Jul 2015

jasee

Has anyone found the sensors anywhere at a cheap price?, they seem to be … Has anyone found the sensors anywhere at a cheap price?, they seem to be £35-£45 or more each

for a really cheap straightforward ANT+ compatible strap that will work with this watch look here

20th Jul 2015

phil001

£50 Here?!

I presume you've got the first gen TT Multisport . I actually nabbed a 2nd gen TT Multisport (cardio) for 150$ during the 4th July Amazon US deals . Had it delivered to a relative's over there and am just waiting for it to be brought across to meAnyway for a really cheap straightforward ANT+ compatible strap that will work with your TT Multisport look here

20th Jul 2015

Can it be connected to a Garmin Footpod?

20th Jul 2015

I've been wearing one for 3 months, great piece of kit not got all the bells and whistles like the fenix 3 but is solid on the basics

20th Jul 2015

logohigh1

It doesn't have hr strap That's another 75 mortal quid !

Only if you buy it bundled with the watch. It's only £32 if you buy it seperately.